Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 181 new cases, eight deaths (media) 
• Hoti discusses with Varhelyi Serbia’s illegal smuggling of anti-COVID vaccines (Koha)
• Loncar: Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (Indeksonline) 
• Kosovo Parliament to decide on Budget 2021 today (Express) 
• Recica: PDK does not have special requests for approval of the budget (RTK)
• Haradinaj-Stublla travels to Turkey (RTK)
• Quni: We will soon become members of the Adriatic Charter (Koha)
• Hoti: There are several candidates for PM in LDK, each, better than the other (RTK)
• Daka: Organising elections, a challenge (RTK)

Serbian Language Media:

• 48 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo on Saturday (Kontakt plus radio)
• Vucic: Did anyone ask Ms. Haradinaj which provision of the Brussels agreement we violated with the vaccines? (Kosovo-online)
• Petkovic: Politics has no place in preserving the health of citizens (KiM radio, Kontakt plus radio, RTS, Politika)
• Petkovic: Season of hunt for Serbs is not closed even at time of pandemics (Kosovo Online) 
• Loncar for Indeksonline – Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (KoSSev)
• Fr. Ilarion: Let us not strive for imaginary happiness because it lies in our hearts (KoSSev)
• Serbia to send Covid-19 vaccines to BiH’s Republika Srpska entity (N1)
• NATO-led KFOR: Security in Kosovo stable (BETA, N1, KIM Radio)
• Permission of “Hortikultura” needed for Serb funerals at Pristina Orthodox cemetery? (Radio KIM, Gracanica-online)
• Milorad Arlov banned to enter Kosovo (Radio KIM)
• Halimi: How to trust the Kosovo judiciary after the embarrassment with the trial for the murder of Ivanovic? (Kosovo Online, Politika)
• HLC: On Nenad Arsic’s sentence after insight and analysis of the first-instance verdict (Radio KIM)

International:

• Kosovo Protests ‘Illegal’ Arrival of COVID-19 Vaccines in North (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media 

COVID – 19: 181 new cases, eight deaths (media) 

181 new cases of COVID – 19 and eight deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 407 patients have recovered from the virus during this time. There are 9,515 active cases of COVID – 19 in Kosovo.

Hoti discusses with Varhelyi Serbia’s illegal smuggling of anti-COVID vaccines (Koha)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti had a telephone conversation with the EU’s Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi.

He discussed the political situation in Kosovo as well as the situation with COVID-19 pandemics. During their conversation, he also raised concern about the illegal smuggling of the anti-COVID vaccines in Kosovo, without regular import procedures or donation for medical products, the origin of which is unknown.

“This behavior of the Republic of Serbia was considered unacceptable and Kosovo institutions have initiated required legal actions towards the individuals involved,” informs the office of the Prime Minister.

As far as anti-COVID vaccine is concerned, Varhelyi assured Hoti that a certain amount of vaccines will arrive in Kosovo at the same time as to the other Western Balkans countries. Hoti on the other hand said that all citizens of Kosovo, without distinction, are included on the vaccination plan.

He also assured Varhelyi that Kosovo will continue institutional and fiscal stability and treat management of COVID-19 pandemics with priority, and it will also fulfill all the obligations for the EU integration process. 

Loncar: Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (Indeksonline) 

Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in Kosovo, but not by Kosovo institutions.  With the order of the Serbian government, hundreds of citizens of the Serbian community were vaccinated in northern municipalities.

Indeksonline spoke with the Serbian Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar, who revealed what happened behind the scenes with regards to the arrival of the Pfizer vaccines in the north. 

Loncar told the portal that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic proposed that upon the arrival of the second contingent of Pfizer vaccines (American-German product) bring them also for other communities in Kosovo. 

“Leaders of the Republic of Serbia are committed to look after all citizens without any distinction.

In particular at the times of the pandemic which is terrorizing an entire world, taking lives of almost two million people,” Loncar said.

“Considering this fact, we are the first in the region, and second in the continent as part of Europe who ensured the Pfizer vaccines against Covid-19. That is why we have started the immunization of the most vulnerable part of the population, in line with WHO professional assessments. Therefore we consider that it is in the interest of all of us to enable protection from the pandemic of the highest percentage of the population. And thus save every human life, that could be mortally endangered by exposure to coronavirus,” he added.

“We believe the aim of every responsible government in the world is to offer maximal support to any person in order to save at least one human life. And not to mention hundreds of thousands of people,” Loncar said.

Kosovo Parliament to decide on Budget 2021 today (Express) 

Today, the Parliament of Kosovo holds an extraordinary session to vote on the Draft Law on Budget 2021. 

Chief of the Parliamentary Group of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Arben Gashi, said last week that the Parliament will convene at their request to vote on the budget for next year. He called on MPs to support the Budget Law and avoid financial crisis. 

Voting of the Budget is expected a week after the Constitutional Court has ruled that Kosovo must hold an early election after the parliamentary confirmation of the government in June 2020 was declared illegal. The Court found that a con was invalid, Kosovo’s top convicted MP with a final court’s decision voted for the government of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti. 

Caretaker prime minister Avdullah Hoti has also called on MPs to pass the Law on Budget. Ruling coalition partners need the vote of opposition to pass the bill on budget. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) in opposition has announced that their MPs will vote on passing of the Law on Budget 2021. 

Recica: PDK does not have special requests for approval of the budget (RTK)

Elmi Recica, from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) said his entity does not have any specific request in order to approve the budget, and confirmed that they will vote for it.

However, he said that during the session of r the approval of the budget, they will discuss and tell the citizens ‘about the bad governing by the two former governments, those of Hoti and Kurti.

The situation is sensitive and lack of voting the budget would create a serious situation in Kosovo, not only due to the pandemic but the situation in general, reports this news portal.

Recica said that PDK will also vote on the international agreements. 

Haradinaj-Stublla travels to Turkey (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla left today for an official visit to Turkey.

She will initially visit the mausoleum Mustafa Kemal Ataturk “Anitkabir” where she will lay the wrath and make a protocol note in the book of memories.

After this, the Kosovo delegation will head to the Turkey’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where Haradinaj-Stublla will have a tête-à-têtes meeting  with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, which will be preceded by a meeting of the delegations.

They are expected to discuss developments of special interest for both countries, including regional and international developments as well as the difficult pandemic situation, with a special focus on cooperation in ensuring the vaccine.

Ministers Haradinaj-Stublla and Cavusoglu are expected to hold a joint press conference.

Haradinaj-Stublla’s visit with the invitation of her counterpart, reconfirms excellent relations between Kosovo and Turkey and aims further cooperation between the two countries, reports this news portal. 

Quni: We will soon become members of the Adriatic Charter (Koha)

Acting Minister of Defense Anton Quni said they have fulfilled all the activities foreseen for 2020, despite the cuts of the budget and pandemics. 

At the end of the year press conference, Quni mentioned some of the achievements of this Ministry, among them, participation at the Adriatic Charter conference. 

“We also advanced successfully the transition and creation of initial capacities for territorial defense. 400 young soldiers, increasing the percentage of women to ten precent,” Quni said.  

“We have fulfilled the process of selection of the 2024 cadets’ generation. Along with the education plan within the country, we have also had international successes.  We have represented the Ministry at the Adriatic Charter conference where we hope to soon become members with full rights. Our objective is to develop our forces in the engagement of the joint peacekeeping forces,” Quni said. 

He also added that KSF was proclaimed by the citizens for the ninth time as the most trusted institution.  

Hoti: There are several candidates for PM in LDK, each, better than the other (RTK)

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said he does not know yet if he is going to be the candidtate for the Prime Minister in the lections expected to be held in the beginning of 2021.

He told media that the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) does not have only one name to lead the election competition, but several, and according to him, each of them is better than the other. He added further that they will aim victory of these elections.

Speaking about the Assembly session on budget that is being held, Hoti said it is of crucial importance not to start the next year without the approved budget.

Daka: Organising elections, a challenge (RTK)

Head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Valdete Daka, said that organizing the elections will be challenging, as they will be the only institution on duty during the following days.

At the 61 meeting of CEC, Daka mentioned the budget as a problem and requested seting the date of the elections within the constitutional deadline.

“Elections are unavoidable, but we are waiting for the date. I appeal to all institutions to use the constitutional deadline on deciding about the date. It will be challenging for us, as we are the only institution that will be on duty during the following days. We also have a budget which is not accumulated yet. Our possibilities are limited as well, and you should take this into consideration,” Daka said.

Ylli Buleshkaj, executive director of the Registration Office, said there is interest for certification of the entities.

“We are awaiting financial reports for the campaign in Podujeve and Mitrovica North. We are busy advising parties as there are initiatives about conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to be certified. We also have those from communities who are interested,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

48 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo on Saturday (Kontakt plus radio)

48 new cases of Covid-19 infected were registered in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo on Saturday, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced, Konakt plus radio reports.

At the same time 97 people have completed a two-week isolation period.

Out of 104 tested samples, 48 were positive. The new cases were registered as follows: 13 in Mitrovica North, 13 in Leposavic, seven in Zvecan, six in Gnjilane, three in Gracanica, three in Strpce, two in Priluzje and one in Kamenica.

At the moment there are 692 active cases of Covid-19 in the Serbian areas in Kosovo.

A total of 85 people passed away in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo since the outbreak of the pandemic. 

Vucic: Did anyone ask Ms. Haradinaj which provision of the Brussels agreement we violated with the vaccines? (Kosovo-online)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic assessed today during New Year’s public address that priority interest of the Republic of Serbia in the upcoming 2021 would be to preserve the peace in the country and the region, as well as vital national interests despite difficult and complex circumstances, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Vucic further said the second most important goal is to care for citizens’ health, how to win over coronavirus and advance the health system.

“Third and important goal is improving living standards of the citizens, and increasing pensions, salaries and other allowances, as well as better infrastructure”, Vucic said. 

He added Serbia would nourish its friendship with those who never turned its back on it, primarily with Russia and China, but would also foster friendly relations with the USAl.

 Vucic also said Serbia would continue to care about its population in Kosovo and Metohija.

“We would continue caring for our people in Kosovo and Metohija and we are ready to send medicines and vaccines to Albanians as well, just do not prevent us and tell us we endangered someone”.

Asked to comment on the statements of Kosovo Foreign Minister Mimoza Haradinaj-Stublla that Serbia by sending vaccines to the north of Kosovo has violated the Brussels Agreement, Vucic asked which provision of the agreement has been actually violated?

“Which provision of the Brussels agreement has been violated, show me”?, Vucic asked. “Did anyone ask Ms. Haradinaj which provision it was. Their announcements to storm our health centers, to confiscate vaccines belong to the other side of the reason. Tell me, on what account the Brussels agreement has been violated? Serbia fulfilled all its obligations deriving from the agreement, and they have not fulfilled the only and foundational one, to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities”, Vucic said.

He further spoke about planned investments across Serbia, relations with Montenegro saying he didn’t expect the latter to revoke recognition of Kosovo adding he is committed to good relations with every government in Montenegro.

Petkovic: Politics has no place in preserving the health of citizens (KiM radio, Kontakt plus radio, RTS, Politika)

Reacting to the statements of Kosovo officials regarding the vaccination in the north of Kosovo, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic points out that politics has no place in the fight to preserve the health of citizens, reported Serbian media. 

“We are all fighting against the same, invisible enemy. “We are all fighting against the same, invisible enemy. For Serbia, there is no alternative for the path of humanity and solidarity,” Petkovic said after a series of statements by Kosovo officials calling the distribution of vaccines in northern Kosovo illegal.

Petkovic points out that the coronavirus does not know someone’s ethnic origin and adds that Serbia is trying to provide enough quantities of vaccines for other communities and environments in Kosovo, reminding that in the midst of the pandemic, Kosovo was given 1,000 PCR tests.

“It is our obligation to provide sufficient quantities of vaccines for all citizens, without exception,” Petkovic said in a press release.

However, he states that the representatives of the authorities in Belgrade are used to Serbia being the main target of the attack during every election campaign in Pristina, but he says that no one’s political ambitions must be above people’s health and lives.

“Therefore, it is inconceivable that someone puts politics above the preservation of life and that at a time when the whole world is fighting a coronavirus pandemic, when we are approaching the figure of two million dead, someone wants to deal with vaccines and prevent immunization,” Petkovic said.

Petkovic: Season of hunt for Serbs is not closed even at time of pandemics (Kosovo Online) 

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petković in an interview to Kosovo Online portal said “it is inadmissible for health and fight for people’s lives in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic to be a training ground for someone’s political games. Covid-19 does not know anyone’s ethnic origin and Serbia, as a responsible state, strives to provide sufficient quantities of vaccines for all citizens, without exception”, Petkovic underlined.

“Both Serbs and Albanians can be treated in the newly opened hospital in Krusevac. That is why it is unbelievable to me that someone in Pristina would first seize medicines in Serbian areas and now they want to settle accounts with vaccines. All of that is in the domain of daily politics, which has no place here, but the politics of having all us to show humanism and solidarity”, Petkovic added. 

Q: Nenad Arsic was sentenced to six years in prison for an alleged war crime, and Svetomir Bacevic from Pec was arrested on suspicion of being responsible for a war crime. It has been speculated that a large number of them are also on secret indictments? 

“Pristina’s judiciary has such a long tradition of abusing the issue of war crimes that we can freely talk about some kind of witch hunt without any restrictions. In the past, Serbs were most often accused of war crimes on the basis of unreliable reports, without a solid legal basis, on the basis of secret lists (…)”. 

“What was hidden behind all of that was not the need to prosecute war criminals, but to seize property from someone or to intimidate those who would like to return to pre-war homes. The political and criminal instrumentalization of the issue of war crimes had usually escalated during the political crises in Kosovo and Metohija or in order to make an artificial balance when an indictment was filed against an Albanian. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija has also developed institutional mechanisms to provide assistance to our unjustly accused compatriots”. 

Q: As the elections approach, there are repeated stories about the alleged Serbian genocide, that President Vucic will be declared a persona non grata. Does such rhetoric affect the security of Serbs? 

“The pre-election period in Kosovo and Metohija has always been a time of security challenges followed by the escalation of anti-Serbian rhetoric. In the absence of answers to the existential problems of citizens, Albanian parties are competing in extremism, and the blame for unresolved social and economic challenges is transferred to Serbs. It is absurd that parties whose leaders and officials are in custody, among other things, because of the killing of their own compatriots, come forward with messages about Serbian guilt. And the attempt to demonize President Aleksandar Vucic has become a favorite sport of the Albanian political elite”. 

Q: You led the Serbian delegation in technical dialogues on property. What is unacceptable for Belgrade, and what is Albanian looking for? 

“For 7.5 years, Pristina refused to discuss the property, unfoundedly insisting that it was their internal issue. However, the evidence of investment in Kosovo and Metohija and property documentation speak otherwise. It is important for us to determine who legally disposes of what based on property law and international principles”. 

Q: What is the perspective of the dialogue if even the EU, which is the guarantor of the agreement on the ZSO, does not intend that it remains on paper? 

“It is my impression that the representatives of Pristina usually do not come there to agree on anything, but to fulfill the form. The only way for Pristina to prove that it is a somewhat credible interlocutor is to enable the formation of ZSO without delay, and at this moment, I do not notice any enthusiasm on their part regarding this issue”. 

Loncar for Indeksonline – Vucic proposed to bring Covid-19 vaccines to all communities in Kosovo at beginning of January (KoSSev)

Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in Kosovo and as per instruction of the Serbian Government several hundred members of the Serbian community were vaccinated in northern municipalities, Pristina-based Indeksonline reports, KoSSev portal said.

Indeksonline spoke with the Serbian Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar on Covid-19 vaccines.

Loncar told the portal that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic proposed to bring Pfizer vaccines (American-German product) for other communities in Kosovo during the second contingent arrival of the vaccines.

“Leaders of the Republic of Serbia are committed to care for all citizens without any distinction. In particular at the times of the pandemic which is terrorizing an entire world taking lives of almost two million people,” Loncar said.

“Considering this fact, we are the first in the region, and second in the continent as part of Europe who ensured the Pfizer vaccines against Covid-19. That is why we have started the immunization of the most vulnerable part of the population, in line with WHO professional assessments. That is why we believe it is in the interest of all of us to enable the highest percentage of the population to be protected from pandemic. And thus save every human life, that could be mortally endangered by exposure to coronavirus”, he added.

“We believe the aim of every responsible government in the world is to offer maximal support to any person in order to save at least one human life. And not to mention hundreds of thousands of people”, Loncar said. 

Fr. Ilarion: Let us not strive for imaginary happiness because it lies in our hearts (KoSSev)

“I observed in the Holy Land that even in the most humble of villages, anywhere in the world, in Kosovo in particular, the blessing of the Holy Land is preserved. You should, paradoxically, go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to fully understand that the same devoutness exists in your parish. This teaches us that we should not strive for imaginary happiness that is located somewhere far away, abroad, on another continent, in the future, and instead realize that it is there, in our hearts, in our love for our fellowmen and the deepening of our relationship with God,” the abbot of the Draganac monastery Ilarion told Zagreb-based portal- P net.

Father Ilarion spoke with journalist Bojan Munjin about Kosovo customs, Christmas, and Christianity on Christmas celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, and on the eve of the Orthodox holidays.

“The strength of their faith in the ultimate victory of the good, regardless of all their hardships and temptations, the people in Kosovo laconically express through the phrases ‘dear God’, ‘dear church’, which I always understood to mean that even when all the parameters in life are very bad, one should not give up faith in the Gospel, faith that everything is well and that all will be well,“ Fr. Ilarion stressed.

According to the abbot of the Draganac monastery, the people teach us that, regardless of the drama taking place, all is basically well and there is no room for pathos and self-pity.

“What left an impression on me was when I met the returnees to the village of Osojane in the municipality of Istok a year after the end of the conflict in Kosovo, when I met old men and women, gathered around a common cauldron on the bare ground under a UNHCR tent. I inquired about their well-being and they replied, cheerfully and with a smile: ‘We are well, and things will be even better.”

Father Ilarion said that he discovered in Jerusalem that “God’s power” hides behind the ordinariness of everyday life.

The lesson of the modest cave of Bethlehem and its mangers is extremely important and eternally relevant: God appears in simplicity and peace. Not in the hectic hustle and bustle, not in the restless tumult of our mind that is always looking for a new sensation. We need to tame the impatience and unrest we have in ourselves, so that, in the depths of our being, we can experience life in heaven.

He described the Draganac Monastery, whose clergy numbers are slowly growing, as a meeting place – even in times when no monks were living in it.

The people of Kosovsko Pomoravlje gather around this monastery. It is a place where they pray, break bread and dance traditional Serbian folk dances.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2KY43ht

Serbia to send Covid-19 vaccines to BiH’s Republika Srpska entity (N1)

Serbian Defence Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that Serbia will provide part of the vaccines against the coronavirus to Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS), in case they have enough of them.

“If we have enough, we would like to give some of the vaccines to Republika Srpska, if they fail to procure them. Our main goal is to protect people from the infection, to help”, Stefanovic said.

Asked whether he expected problems from Sarajevo in that case, Stefanovic answered that Serbia had never refused anyone who turned to it for help, and added that Belgrade wanted special ties with everyone in BiH.

This way, he said that Serbia is helping the whole of BiH because that means more investments in the territory of BiH, more cured people, more children who go to school in the best conditions.

See at: https://bit.ly/3nVk86h

NATO-led KFOR: Security in Kosovo stable (BETA, N1, KIM Radio)

KFOR Commander, Major General Franko Federici, said on Monday the security situation in Kosovo was stable and that there were no signs of potential unrest or violence, BETA news agency reports.

He said that the KFOR mission consists of 3,500 soldiers from 27 countries, 19 of which are NATO members and eight the Alliance’s partner states.

“KFOR successfully carries out its tasks, for which the merit goes to the Alliance and our partners. KFOR Mission for 21 years already contributes and helps that Kosovo becomes a safer place”, General Federici told the Belgrade-based Kurir media outlet.

He also said that KFOR had established “excellent and effective” communication with local Serbs, as the largest minority in Kosovo, as well as “good official” communication with the Army of Serbia (VS).

Permission of “Hortikultura” needed for Serb funerals at Pristina Orthodox cemetery? (Radio KIM, Gracanica-online)

A representative of Pristina-based “Hortikultura” company banned on Saturday morning the workers of “Ekologija” company from Gracanica to dig a grave for late Zoran Nikolic from Pristina at the Orthodox cemetery in this city, Gracanica-online portal reports.

Nikolic passed away at his apartment in Pristina on Friday, and the funeral was to take place at midday the following day, at Pristina Orthodox cemetery. Deceased Nikolic was one of the few Serbs who remained living in Pristina with his family.

It was only after the arrival of Pristina-based Serbian Orthodox Church priest Stanisa Arsic, advisor to Pristina mayor, Nenad Miladinovic and the police that workers from Gracanica were allowed to dig up the grave for the late Nikolic, Gracanica-online learns.

However, two representatives of the “Hortikultura” company remained on the spot, and as they said they are the ones having the contract with Pristina municipality and are responsible for the funerals at all Pristina cemeteries, adding that no one can entry the cemeteries, including the Orthodox one, without their permission, the portal reported. 

Milorad Arlov banned to enter Kosovo (Radio KIM)

President of Banja Luka-based (Republic of Srpska, B&H) Council for Helping Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, Milorad Arlov was banned yesterday from entering Kosovo, Office for KiM said in a statement, Radio KIM reports.

As the statement said, he was prevented from delivering 1.000 New Year’s packages to the children in Kosovo along with six scholarships.

“The ban on Milorad Arlov entering represents the most flagrant violation of the right to freedom of movement and a measure that Pristina authorities arbitrarily implement without any legal basis”, the Office said in a statement.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija added it condemns “Pristina’s acts which at the times of the pandemic sets new barriers and obstacles”.    

Halimi: How to trust the Kosovo judiciary after the embarrassment with the trial for the murder of Ivanovic? (Kosovo Online, Politika)

“I don’t know what else to say, except that this is a disgrace to the Kosovo judicial system. I am ashamed instead of them. In November, it was 43 years since I am a lawyer, but I did not encounter such abuse of law and human rights. The third indictment, which would be better written by a trainee with three months of work in the judiciary, is a total fiasco. I just don’t know what to say anymore,” lawyer from Mitrovica, who represents Marko Rosic in the trial for the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, Mahmut Halimi told daily Politika. 

Rosic and five Serbs are charged with aggravated murder, and Halimi says that the third indictment issued by the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo, only with “cosmetic changes” and without an amendment ordered by the Kosovo Court of Appeals, is “harmful and has no new descriptions of actions and the court cares more about the quality and fate of the indictment than about people’s lives”.

Halimi said that when he filed appeal against the extension of detention to Rosic and stated the evidence, he was told that only with this appeal, the indictment may fell.” But it all left at words, empty words. How can I trust the Kosovo judiciary, when they ignore all the objections stated by the Court of Appeals, which they were obliged to change,” says Halimi, who sees the only success in this ‘entire masquerade’ in the fact that he managed to transfer Marko Rosic to Mitrovica detention unit, quoted portal Kosovo Online. 

Rosic’s parents also said that the extension of detention for another two months was “a violation of human rights and that their innocent son is in prison’’. 

“I will repeat, the alleged piece of paper with the license plate of the car which is under my name, which Marko was driving, was not found in Oliver Ivanovic’s pocket, which was confirmed by prosecutors Rexha and Radovic the same morning when Ivanovic was killed. There is no such piece of paper in the case file! It is not there, because there was no peace of paper at all. This piece of paper appeared only later, which was confirmed at one hearing by Miroslav Ivanovic himself, Oliver’s brother. But imagine that judiciary, which now states in the third indictment on the first page that a piece of paper with the license plates of the car that my Marko was driving, which allegedly followed Oliver, was found near Ivanovic on the day of the murder. Then, somewhere on pages 20 and 30, it says that the piece of paper was brought after some time by Miroslav Ivanovic, Oliver’s brother, who has confirmed it,” Nebojsa Rosic told Politika, who, like his wife,  states that their son’s human rights are being deliberately violated. They also said that they have sent a letter to all embassies in Kosovo, as well as embassies in Serbia, but that no one has deigned to reply. 

Marko Rosic’s parents still stand by the claim, as they have said before that their son was “poisoned with drugs, that he was also drugged in Podujevo, because how to explain the fact that they gave him medication for epilepsy which he never had and who has always been healthy”.

Lawyer Dejan A. Vasic, who represents Dragisa Markovic, also told daily Politika that the Kosovo judiciary is in total chaos.

“With the new indictment, the special prosecutor’s office completely ignored the instructions of the Court of Appeals, regarding the case concerning the organized group, where the Court of Appeals is clear and says that the criminal group did not exist at all,” Vasic said.

He reminds of another paradoxical decision of the Basic Court in Pristina, on the exclusion of lawyer Faruk Korenica from the process, i.e. that he will no longer be able to represent Nedeljko Spasojevic, whom he has been defending since the first day. 

“Denying my colleague Korenica the right to defend Spasojevic is a precedent never seen before. I have no need to defend Korenica, considering that he knows how to do it much better than me, but I need to point out all the unremembered omissions in the Kosovo judicial system, and unremembered in world practices,” says Vasic.

Silvana Arsović’s lawyer, Jovana Filipovic, emphasizes, like her previous colleagues, that “the court procedure is being delayed, and the indictment has not been changed, although the Court of Appeals was explicit and clear, stating that evidence must be provided and direct witnesses.”

“This is an abuse of the rights of the accused, the judiciary is trying to legally cover the decisions,” she said, Kosovo Online quoted. 

HLC: On Nenad Arsic’s sentence after insight and analysis of the first-instance verdict (Radio KIM)

After the Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Nenad Arsic to six years in prison for the war crimes against civilian population, Kosovo Humanitarian Law Center said it does not wish to make declaration on the gravity of the first-instance verdict and assessments on how it perceived the relevance in differences of the witnesses’ testimonies, adding it would make a statement on “what happened on that day after an insight and analysis of the first-instance verdict, when it would be assessed if the sentence was adequate”, Radio KIM reports.

The HLC added that in a brief explanation of its decision, the Trial Chamber stated it was made on the basis of the evidence presented during the main trial.

The HLC also said it is very likely that due to the lapse of time since the moment of a criminal act, for which defendant was found guilty, until the trial respectively announcement of the court’s decision “could influence certain differences in the statements of the witnesses on this event they made in the previous phases of the proceedings”.

Arsic’s defense lawyer Dejan A. Vasic commenting on the verdict said it goes completely contrary to everything that happened in this process.

“If I were the judge who handed down this verdict I would be ashamed both as a human and a legal professional. The trial chamber didn’t find it appropriate, while announcing the verdict to say a single word on why it decided this way and how Nenad’s responsibility was determined”, Vasic told Kosovo-online portal.

He announced filing an appeal to the Court of Appellate.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic visited the mother and sister of Nenad Arsic, following the verdict. The two live in Nis. Following the visit, Petkovic said the state of Serbia will continue helping Arsic.

Petkovic assessed that Arsic was “a victim of the Pristina judiciary, which is an instrument in the hands of the Albanian politicians, who this way take revenge on the Serbian people and state of Serbia. This shameful verdict indicates that Pristina does what it wants and how it wants to create a false balance as it was not only Albanians who committed the crimes”, Petkovic said. 

Arsic’s sister Verica said despite everything the family went through they will not sell the house in Caglavica.

Nenad Arsic originating from Caglavica was arrested on October 22, 2019 at Merdare crossing point, while on his way to get personal documents. 

International

Kosovo Protests ‘Illegal’ Arrival of COVID-19 Vaccines in North (Balkan Insight)

The apparent arrival from Serbia of COVID-19 vaccines in Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo – without any consultation with authorities in Pristina – has outraged government ministers and prompted a judicial investigation.

The prosecution in Kosovo said it was investigating how COVID-19 vaccines had reached the Serb-run north of the country from Serbia without the knowledge of the country’s own institutions, the Chief Prosecutor in the municipality of Mitrovica, Shyqyri Syla, told BIRN on Monday.

“We have started collecting information about the entry of these vaccines … [but] cannot start an investigation without first getting information about where they came from and who brought them,” Syla said.

According to Syla, “drug smuggling and … unauthorized medical assistance, because they need an authorization from us to act”, would constitute a serious crime.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla accused Serbia of violating Kosovo’s national security, saying it had “undermined the whole process and the achievements of the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia both in Washington and also in Brussels”.

See at: http://bit.ly/2JoiqLy